Deep Hurt - Eva Hudson Page 0,77

answered.

“Only, I wouldn’t rely on anything I tell you. In these cases I’ve learnt to have a completely open mind. It has been rather forced upon me by past experience, but nevertheless… either or both of those two syndromes could have triggered an incident of shaking that might have caused Molly Foster’s injuries.”

“But you wouldn’t rule either of them out?” Ingrid pressed her point.

“No—I’m not one for ruling anything out. Not anymore.” He stared into space for a moment before quickly recovering to turn his attention back to his now half empty plate.

Radcliffe got to his feet. “Thank you for your time, Dr Ryland. Good of you to come over.”

“No trouble at all. Nice to have been asked!” He stood up and slowly reached his right hand behind his back, presumably to grab his wallet from a pocket. He was so slow, in fact, that he still hadn’t retrieved it before Radcliffe offered to pay.

From the expression on his face as he called over the waitress and settled the check, Ingrid knew the DCI was seriously pissed.

39

Once they were outside the pub the DCI let rip. “I don’t know what you hoped to achieve with that exercise, but I think you’d have to agree your plan failed abysmally. That man is a washed-up excuse for a professional. He’s a joke.”

“I didn’t plan to speak to ‘that man’ at all—that was Glynde’s idea. But you can’t totally disregard what he told us. Carrie Foster is strong enough physically, and maybe mentally… compromised enough to have inflicted those injuries on Molly herself. You can’t ignore it any longer. You have to at least rule her out of any involvement before you can make any assumptions about her husband.”

“We interviewed her extensively. Her statement hasn’t wavered.”

“You were questioning her specifically about Kyle. About his actions. Have you closely examined hers?”

“She’s in no fit state to be put through that kind of interrogation. She wouldn’t cope with the ordeal.”

“Come on, you know you have to question her again. Kyle Foster insists he didn’t hurt Molly.”

“Of course he does. He’s abducted his son and is evading arrest for the attempted murder of his daughter. What else would you expect him to say?”

“What about the size of the bruises on Molly’s arms? How do you explain those?”

Radcliffe didn’t answer.

“And there’s the vodka hidden in her closet, the fact that people close to her said her mood worsened after Molly was born.”

“People? Unless you have medical evidence proving that fact, I’m not interested.”

“There’s something I haven’t told you.”

Radcliffe shook his head. “What desperate piece of insignificant information are you going to dredge up now to support your case?”

“I have nothing to gain by proving or disproving Kyle Foster’s guilt. How could I? I just want to make sure we look at his side of the story before totally dismissing it. I just want to get at the truth.”

“And you think I don’t?” He started to walk away.

Ingrid reached out and grabbed his sleeve as she drew level with him. They walked back toward Tottenham Court Road and the hospital. “I don’t think that for a second.”

“What, then? What haven’t you told me?”

“When Major Gurley and I were searching the Foster house we found a bottle of pills in the bathroom cabinet. I’ve since had them identified as anti-depressants. There was no label on the bottle, so I presume they weren’t officially prescribed.”

“You’re saying they were obtained illegally?”

“That’s my presumption. What if they’re Carrie’s?”

“Why didn’t you tell me about them before? Oh wait, I was forgetting, you’re somewhat selective with the information you pass on.”

“I’m telling you now.”

“Because it suits your purpose. They still might be his.”

Ingrid threw up her hands. Maybe Kyle Foster had shaken his daughter so hard she lost consciousness, but since Ingrid had spoken to Carrie’s friend on the base and Yvonne Sherwood, both telling her what a good father Kyle had been, she felt she should give the guy the benefit of a doubt. He’d seemed so concerned about Tommy’s safety when he called the base, wasn’t the possibility that his wife was responsible worth at least a little investigation?

As she and Radcliffe walked across the busy intersection, Ingrid tried desperately to come up with something she could tell the DCI that might convince him she wasn’t wasting his time.

Nothing came to mind.

They reached the other side of the street and Radcliffe turned to her. “I’m going back to the station. So I suppose this is goodbye.” He shook her hand and turned